Improvement in veneers



d d fitatw Q cw i ttu HENRY F. SHEPHERD, OF FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 84,008, dated November 10, 1868; 'otntedated October 31, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN VENEERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY F. SHEPHERD, of Framingham, in the county 01" Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Veneers and \Vood-Hangings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention consists in the production of a new and useful article of manufacture, made by subjecting veneers, or wood shavings, or ribbons, to a compressing and burnishiug-action on their surface, whereby they are not only made more solid and compact, or closer as regards grain, but have a finish or gloss given to them, which makes them preferable or more desirable and available for veneering-purposesgenerally, or as a substitute for paper in the adornment of house-walls or other surfaces. Visiting-cards, and other articles also, not necessarily requiring to be backed, may like-' wise be made of this article.

As a substitute for wall-paper, wood-hangings, compressed and burnished as specified, will present a natural polished surface, retaining all the original beauty of grain and configuration.

Veneers, both thick and thin, have before been used as a substitute for wall-paper, and secured to the walls by paste or other suitable cement; but in all such previous cases the veneers have been put on in their raw state, so that they, for the most part, present a dull appearance requiring much oil, varnish, or shellac to give them the necessary gloss and finish; whereas, by my improvement, the article produced differs from ordinary veneers in being compressed and burnished,

thereby giving it a more solid character and natural gloss or polish, or whereby much or all of the afterexpense attendant upon varnishing is or may be dispensed with.

As I do not restrict myself to any particular ma,- chinery by which to produce the veneers, or to compress and burnish them, there is no necessity here to show or describe special mechanism for the purpose, it being, for instance, already well known or understood how wood may be cut or otherwise divided into veneers, either in a ribbon-form or otherwise, while I claim the right to use any suitable mechanism for compressing and burnishing said veneers. Thus, for

example, I take the veneers cut or formed as ribbons,

and pass them through the machine for polishing enamelled paper, (described in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 56,456, issued, July 17, 1866, to S. Shepherd and A. M. George,) wherein a burnishingroller is used in connection with an endless-travelling apron, the two devices moving at diflerent velocities, and the material to be polished being worked between them. Such a machine would serve to give to the veneer the requisite degree of compression and gloss on its surface to form this, my improved article, ready, as it issues from the manufactory, to be applied to any purpose for which it is suitable.

Having thus described my invention,

I claim, as a new and useful article of manufacture- A compressed and burnished veneer, applicable as wood-hangings, and for other purposes, substantially as specified.

Witnesses: HENRY F. SHEPHERD.

" O. Bnonen'r'r, J11,

THOMAS WILSON. 

